Brief comment on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov

Appreciations about the philosophical views on faith and morality in the book have been written at length, and they merit the attention they have received.  Set around events of unignorable intensity, such as the central one of patricide, The Brothers Karamazov dares one to meditate on the nuances of truth.  Indeed, the propositions on the existence of God (and the resulting morality) by the elder Zosima, and later the Devil to Ivan Karamazov are excellent.  Both as responses to the deliberations initially exposed in the Grand Inquisitor, a chapter in the book that could have been (and probably was at some point) published as a treatise by itself.

Though Zosima is an earthly character in the story, the appearance of the Devil comes in a dream, or more appropriately, in a nightmare.  During one of the most intense parts of the story, Ivan Karamazov has a conversation with this character, and through this episode, Dostoevsky observes the actual connection between nightmares and demonic agents.  And not only this, but also that demons in nightmares have lasting effects in the person who experiences them.  Ivan Karamazov suffers as a consequence of this encounter with his demon long after the nightmare ends.  This kind of happening is a recognized condition among neuroscientists and clinicians.

This deep understanding of human psychology brings me to what I believe is Dostoevsky’s great talent in this novel: the ability to understand and articulate truths about the human spirit.  My favorite passage about lying:

Above all, do not lie to yourself. A man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point where he does not discern any truth either in himself or anywhere around him, and thus falls into disrespect towards himself and others. Not respecting anyone, he ceases to love, and having no love, he gives himself up to passions and coarse pleasures in order to occupy and amuse himself, and in his vices reaches complete bestiality, and it all comes from lying continually to others and himself.  A man who lies to himself is often the first to take offense. It sometimes feels very good to take offense, doesn’t it? And surely he knows that no one has offended him, and that he himself has invented the offense and told lies just for the beauty of it, that he has exaggerated for the sake of effect, that he has picked up on a word and made a mountain out of a pea—he knows all of that, and still he is the first to take offense, he likes feeling offended, it gives him great pleasure, and thus he reaches the point of real hostility…

Old liars who have been play-acting all their lives have moments when they get so carried away by their posing that they indeed tremble and weep from excitement, even though at that same moment (or just a second later) they might whisper to themselves: “you’re lying, you shameless old man, you’re acting even now, despite all your ‘holy’ wrath and ‘holy’ moment of wrath.

On martyrdom…

A martyr sometimes likes to toy with his despair, also from despair.

On (craving) wealth…

But what comes of the right to increase one’s needs? For the rich, isolation and spiritual suicide, for the poor envy and murder.

Moderate your demands, and we should live in peace and harmony.

Also, superbly placed comic relief sections, with unique wit…

“The pious merchant 250-pound wife”

“The self-satisfied German wit”

He said afterwards that he considered this speech his chef d’oeuvre, the chef d’oeuvre of his whole life, his swan song.  True, he died nine months later of acute consumption, so that indeed, as it turned out, he would have been right to compare himself to a swan singing its last song, had he anticipated his end beforehand.

On passion and love…

In certain cases, it is more honorable to yield to passion, however unwise, if it springs from great love.

On social cause…

[I hope] yearning for popular foundations, will not turn later, as often happens, into dark mysticism on the moral side, and witless chauvinism on the civic side.

On revenge…

Outraged nature and the criminal heart, revenge themselves, more fully than any earthly justice

Envy…

Never show a proud and envious man a great deal of money at once.

Fatherhood…

He who begets is not yet a father, a father is he who begets and proves worthy of it

Childhood…

No memories are more precious to a man than those of his earliest childhood in his parental home, and that is almost always so, as long as there is even a little bit of love and unity in the family.  But from a very bad family, too, one can keep precious memories, if only one’s soul knows how to seek out what is precious.

Life…

There is nothing higher or stronger or sounder, or more useful afterwards in life than some good memory, especially a memory from childhood.

Do not be afraid of life.  How good life is when you do something good and rightful.

And of course, I could go one, but one would best read from the book.

There’s something about reading a massive novel.  It contains a lot, and sometimes you feel like you just want to finish it already.  But when you do, it’s like reaching the top of a mountain, and the view is wonderful. Truly one has finished a marathon in thought and sentiment.

And if you read it wholly, then it means you have lived with the book for a while. The book has been part of your life for a significant amount of time, so when you finish, you will exhale in overwhelming fashion.

(Also, why were not forensics used to prove that the blows on Fyodor did not correspond to Dmitri’s actions? Number of blows, weapon used. This was never settled.)